Tire-stripping machine



Patented Dec. 15, 1925.-

.- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ammvrsr. DE warn-or AKRON, HIO, ASSIGNOR 'rOT'rHn B. r. GOODRICH COMPANY, or NEW YORK, 1:. Y.:, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TIREf-Smrmmfireman. 2

Application filed reach 17, 1922. Serial No. 544,632.

T 0 allwhom it may concern i Be it known that I, DENNIsL; DE llv -xrrr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Akron, in the. county of Summitfand State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Tire-Stripping Machine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to tire-stripping machines of thetype described in the Kuentzel Reissue Patent No. 15,28'4tof Feb ruary 1-1:,1922, such machine comprising a group of stripping fingers acting radially over the tire-core in theupper semi-circle of the latter, for pushing'the beadof the tire casing over the crown. of the core so that the casing may then be dropped or pulled'from the lower part of the'core v -.My principal object 'isto simplify the mechanism for operating the tire-stripping fingers and reduce the mechanical strains in theinachine, and a further object is. to provide an improved means for controlling the fluid-pressure devices which actuate the operating instrumentalities. v

f the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a vertical section of atireestripping machine constructed according to my'invention, with the operating parts in their retracted positions.

Fig. 2 is a similar partial section onha larger scale, showing the projected position ofoneof the-strippingmembers.. Fig. 8 ;is a front elevation of the machine. i

Fig. ais a section on the line 44 of Fig. 1. I s

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5 S ot Fig. 41-.

In the drawings, 10 is a cowl-like casing or frame member of stepped form, mounted on frame standards 11, 12, which are connected by a front bridge-piece 13, l0 being a rear crossmember forming a part of the main casting of the casing 10. a 14 is a tire-core and. 15 is a tire-casing thereon, of the soft-bead, clincher type adapted to be stripped from the core by stretching one of its beads thereover.

v16, 16 are fixed chuck-jaws projecting radially from an arched supporting member 17, formed on the bridge-member 13, these jaws being recessed to embrace the tongue or inner peripheral portion of'the tirecore' in-the upper half of the latter, on opposite sides of the vertical axis, the rear wall of the recess in each'j aw being radially extended to form a positioning stop 16. 18 is an L-shaped, movable chuck-jaw formed with a rear core-stop 18 and carried by the lower end of the piston rod 19 of a double-acting air cylinder 20, which is supported on the bridge-member 13 under the arch 1'7, 21 (Fig. 1) being the piston in in this case sixin number, and in the several guides are mounted a corresponding number of stripper-fingers'26, whose upper ends are guided against theside contour of the tirecore 14 and formed with pushers 26 to engage the tire bead 15? on the inner side of the core, and whose lower ends are provided with trunnion pins 27 occupying guide-slots 28 in the side-plates of the guide 25. In each guide 25 is also mounted apair of links 29 pivoted at their lower ends on the trunnion-pins 27 and pivoted at their upper ends on apin 30 on the upper arm of a bellcrank lever 31; Pins on the-hubs of the stripper-fingers are connected by pullsprings 32 with ears -on thelevers '31 for maintaining the ends of said fingers yieldingly in contact with the-side face of the tire core: Stop-plates 126 prevent the stripper-fingers from falling forward when the core is not present.

The several levers 31 are fulcrumed at 33 on brackets 34 bolted within the casing 10 and are provided with rollers 35 at the ends of their lower arms occupying the recess in a forked actuating head or ram 86.

A horizontal reciprocating motion is imparted to the head 36 by means of a rod 37 to the forward end of which it is secured, and said head is provided with a side-thrust guidein the form of a grooved track-plate 38 mounted horizontally beneath the head and engaged by a roller 39 on said head. The rear abutment of the head 36 is formed with a series ofsteps 36 of which the mid dle step engaging the rollers 35 of the two uppermost levers 31 is the mostadvanced, while those on either side are setback in pairs to successively increasing I depths in order that the rou J of stri Der-fin ers ma be advanced in echelon against the tire bead, with the middle pair leading, the next pair on either side less advanced, and the two outer fingers least advanced. The middle pair of fingers reaches the forward end of its stroke on the crown of the core before the corresponding links 29 reach the upper ends of the slots 28 in the two middle guides, and there is a dwell 28 at the upper end of the slot to permit the continued rise of the pin 27 as represented by the successive broken-line positions for the stripper-finger in Fig. 2, while the remaining pairs of fingers are being brought to the ends of their strokes in circumferential alignment with the two middle fingers, the slots 28 for the fingers of the second pair flanking the middle pair having a shorter dwell at their upper ends, and the slots for the two end most fingers having no dwell, as will be understood without detailed illustration. The purpose of this echelon or wedge formation during the advance of the stripperfingers is to reduce the strain on the tire bead, but it is not essential, as the entire group of fingers could be advanced on a straight front.

The rod 37 is attached to a piston 40 working in an air cylinder 41 on the rear end of the casing 10, the piston preferably also having a tail-rod 42 which works through the rear cylinder-head to furnish an additional guide and is surrounded by a guard-tube The front end of the cylinder 41 connects with the casing of the controller 24, through a pipe 44 having a pair of parallel branches 44, 44, the branch 44 containing a downwardly or outwardly opening check-valve 45, while the branch 44 contains a stop-valve 46. Upon the admission of compressed air to the forward end of the cylinder 41, the check-valve 45 closes and the flow of air is controlled by the stopvalve 46, which may be set at a small opening to prevent too rapid a retracting movement of the piston 40. During exhaust of the forward end of the cylinder the air is discharged freely past the check-valve 45.

The rear end of the cylinder 41 connects by a pipe 47 with the casing of the controller 24.

The controller casing has a central circular chamber 48 containing an oscillatory valve 49 and adapted to be supplied with air through an open port 50 from a chamber 51 connected with an air-line pipe 52. 53 is an exhaust port leading from the central chamber 48 to a chamber 54, which connects with the atmosphere, 55 and 56 are ports connecting said central chamber with chambers 57 and 58 leading to the pipes 22 and 47 1'espectively, and 59, 60 are ports leading from said central chamber to chambers 61., 62, connecting with the pipes 23 and 44 respectively. The valve 49 has a shaft 63 on the outer end of which is a gear 64 meshing with a gear segment 65 on a counter-shaft 66, to which are also secured a trip-arm 67, a stoparm 68, and a crank-handle 69. The triparm 67 is mounted in the path of a trip-lug attached to the head 36, and the stop-arm 68 coacts with a fixed stop-lug 71 on the framestandard 11.

In the operation of this machine, the parts when at rest have the positions shown in the views except Fig. 2, the valve 49 being so positioned as to connect the upper end of the chuck cylinder 20 and the rear end of the main cylinder 41 with the atmosphere through the pipes 22 and 47, while the lower end of the chuck cylinder and the front end of the main cylinder are supplied with compressed air through the pipes 23 and 44. A core 14 with a tire casing 15 thereon is mounted 011 the fixed chuck-jaws 16 and allowed to hang in a vertical position. The operator then turns the crank-handle 69 so as to throw the valve 49 to the opposite end of its stroke, putting the stop-arm 68 againstthe lug 71 and moving the trip lug 67 into the broken-line position shown in Fig. 1. The first part of this movement of the valve shuts off the supply of air to the lower end of the chuck cylinder through the port 59 and pipe 23, and shuts off the upper end from the atmosphere through the pipe 22 and port 55, and then connects the upper end of the chuck cylinder with the supply line 52 and its lower end with the atmosphere. The piston 21 is thereby depressed and the movable chuck-j aw 18 is brought against the tire core so as to clamp the latter firmly in the chuck. The continued movement of the valve 49 reverses the supply and discharge connections of the twoends of the main cylinder 41, exhausting its front end and charging its rear end from the air-line, so that the piston 40 and head 36 are pushed forward. This causes the levers 31 to be oscillated in the successive order above described, the two middle ones first, followed by the adjacent pair and then by the end pair through the action of the steps 36. The stripper-fingers 26 are thereby moved radially outward over the surface of the core and the inner tire-bead 15 and pushed up over the core when sa1d fingers have reached the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2. The casing being thus freed from the core over its upper half it drops or is pulled off from the lower half of the core. As the head 36 approaches the forward end of its stroke, the trip-lug 70 engages the arm 67 and restores the valve 49 to its original position, the expansion of air behind the piston and the inertia of the parts causing them to complete their stroke, whereupon piston 40 and head 36 are automatically withdrawn to retract the stripper-fingers 26 and piston 21 is automatically raised to retract the movable chuck-jaw 18 and release the core. The stripper core is then lifted off of the upper chuck-jaws 16 and the foregoing operations may thereupon be repeated upon a fresh core and tire casing.

It will be noted that by providing a ram or head 36 and suitable connections for projecting the entire set of stripper-fingersduring an outward movement of the ram and retracting said fingers by the return movement of said ram, I greatly simplify the construction of the machine and reduce the mechanical strains therein. I am also enabled to place the chuck cylinder 20 under the same control as is provided for the main cylinder 11, which again simplifies the machine and renders it more durable and reliable in action. I

I claim:

1. In a tire-stripping machine, the combination of core-supporting means, a group of tire stripping devices in excess of two embracing an arc of the core and mounted for radial movement only to force the bead of the tire over the crown of the core, and means acting solely by forces directed in planes which are radial and axial with relation to the core for projecting said devices radially.

2. In a tire-stripping machine, the com bination of a core-supporting means, a group of stationarily-mounted tire-stripping devices embracing an arc of the core and movable radially thereof to force the head of the tire casing over thecrown of the core, and means for projecting said devices as a group in Wedge formation.

3. In a tire-stripping machine, the combination of means for supporting a tire core in a substantially vertical plane, a group of radially-movable tire-stripping fingers having fixed positions c'ircumferentially of the core, a horizontally-movable ram, and connections between said ram and fingers for projecting the latter during a stroke of the ram in one direction and retracting them during its opposite stroke.

4. In a tire-stripping machine, the combination of core-supporting means, a group of tire-stripping fingers in excess of two, having fixed positions circumferentially of the core, a ram, and a series of levers forming positive connections between said ram and the respective fingers in both directions of movement of the ram.

5. In a tire-stripping machine, the combination of core-supporting means, a series of tire-stripping members grouped about said means, and means for projecting the middle members of said groupin advance of the end members.

6. In a tire-stripping machine, the com bination of core-supporting means, a group of tire-stripping fingers, a series of levers for operating the respective fingers, and a bination of core-supporting means, a group.

of tire-stripping fingers, and means for advancing the middle fingers of said group ahead of the end ones and finally bringing them all into line in their most projected position.

'9. Ina tire-stripping machine, the comstrippings finger movable radially thereof, a lever and link for moving said finger, and a guide having a slot adapted to guide said finger and formed with a terminal portion permitting a continued movement of the lever and link, Without substantial effect upon the finger after the finger has reached its most projected position. j

10. In a tire-stripping machine, the combination of core-supportiing means, a group of tire-stripping fingers, a series of levers and links for operating said fingers, a stepped ram adapted during its finger-projecting movement to advance the middle fingers of the group ahead of the end ones, and a series of slotted guides for guiding said fingers, the slots of the middle guides in the group having a dwell at their extremities for arresting projection of the middle fingers while the ram continues to advance and bring the end fingers into line with the middle fingers.

11. In a tire-stripping machine, the combination of core-supporting means, a series of tire-stripping members semi-circularly grouped at one side thereof, a series of levers for operating said fingers, a ram for operating the levers and a lateral-thrustguide for said ram.

12. In a tire-stripping machine, the combination of means for supporting a the core in a substantially vertical plane, a series of tire-stripping members semicircularly grouped on the upper side of said means, a horizontally-movable ram having connections with said members, a fluid-pressure cylinder having a piston connected to reciprocate said ram, and a lateral-thrustguide on the under side of said ram.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 16 day of March, 1922.

DENNIS L. DE WALT.

bination of core-supporting means, a tire-' 

